USB stick or DVD?

topcropper

topcropper

Just a quick question.

Our little area had a centenary a few weeks ago. Now we are going to put down a time capsule to be bought up in 50 years time, with historical info in it. I was going to put all the photos on a long life DVD, but the wife reckons a USB stick would make more sense.

What does everyone reckon would be more chance in 50 years time of someone being able to get photos and movies off in 50 years, a DVD or a USB stick? Or perhaps it's a waste of time for either? Maybe the actual photos would be the go? Silly question I suppose, as who would know?



If anyone is remotely interested, this is the website of the centenary we had.

http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/



See ya's.
 
In 50 years we'll probably be using a completely different interface and it'll be very difficult to read either media.

I'd suggest a USB stick as they're a probably little more resiliant than a CD. You could always put it on both.

You might also want to consider savings the photos in RAW format. It takes up a lot more space, but it's a very easy file format to read.

In 2006 we dug up a time capsule from my primary school which was burried in 1981. Some kid had put an original 'Empire Strikes Back' movie poster in there and it was still in mint condition. Imagine what that'd be worth today. Most of the celuoid film was unrecoverable.
 
The internet is a far better time capsule. If you uploaded your historical information and photos to wikipedia / picasa / youtube, not only would it be around in 50 years time but also be a useful resource in the meantime.

This is what was being used for storage in 1962. If you dug that up today, what would you do with it? http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/DiskPlatter-1301.htm

Edit: I'm not trying to discourage you, certainly you should put the media in as an object of interest, just don't count on it being accessible, ie. put some physical photos in as well.
 
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Do both, in 10 years time - copy all files from those media to new interface, or upload to the net.

Cloud is around the corner.. within 10-15 years we will not use that media anymore. All files will be available as long you connected to internet
 
I would recommend using DVD copy. Files from usb drive can easily get corrupted. You can create at least 2 DVD copies and you keep the other one in a safe place.
 
topcropper said:
Just a quick question.

Our little area had a centenary a few weeks ago. Now we are going to put down a time capsule to be bought up in 50 years time, with historical info in it. I was going to put all the photos on a long life DVD, but the wife reckons a USB stick would make more sense.

What does everyone reckon would be more chance in 50 years time of someone being able to get photos and movies off in 50 years, a DVD or a USB stick? Or perhaps it's a waste of time for either? Maybe the actual photos would be the go? Silly question I suppose, as who would know?



If anyone is remotely interested, this is the website of the centenary we had.

http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/



See ya's.
Click to expand...

Neither of them might last - let alone technology changes but it is likely that someone will be able to read it, if they last.
I would put both down there and keep a copy at the local library/town records which is redone ever 5 years.
If the Town Council has access to it's own data backup strategy which uses longer life storage options such as LTOs, 3592 tapes etc then you could ask them to make a copy for you and put it in the capsule and keep a copy at the Council or Library.
 
In 1986 the BBC Domesday Project was written onto a Laserdisc ROM.

The archives became unreadable in the intervening years, and it required a certain amount of effort to recover the data. Part of this was down to the availability of hardware, and part was down to damage to the disks. Wikipedia and The Register discuss the data preservation efforts.

Over a fifty year timeframe you're going to have problems sourcing hardware. It's hard to find serial or parallel ports on modern PCs, and when did you last see the once ubiquitous 5.25" or even more recent 3.5" disks.

The best solution would be to store the data in an open format. HTML is likely to be around for a good few years, and the earliest pages are fifteen to twenty years old. The JPEG file format is twenty years old, and still in use.
 
I would have a number of photos developed and stored within the time capsule and also with the nearest historical society.

I would also create a DVD and a memory stick back up, the cost is relatively small either way, the return in historical value is huge.
 
Since you want the file to be preserved for 50 years at least. I think you should do it both on CD and on USB stick and bury it under the soil with a sealed container as if you were burying a dead man. Make sure it doesn't produce moisture inside.
 
Yep, I'm going to do everything mentioned except for the old PC, as it wouldn't fit down the hole. We made a nice profit from the centenary, so I'll put a few hundred photos on a USB stick, the same on long life DVD, and I've already got a few hundred real photos done, that will go down the hole too. Harvey Norman had a special on, at 12 cents a photo. No wonder all the little photo shops have closed down.

Plus some newspapers, as they might be a real novelty in 2062, A couple of stuffed old mobile phones, and other people have other interesting items to put in as well.



Getting involved in this centenary has been one of the best things I've ever done. At 45 years old, I was amongst a heap of 60 and 70 year olds on the organising committee, so I was really able to add a lot of stuff that the older generation would not have been able to contribute. For example, I set up the website myself, which was really easy as it turned out.

As someone said, getting photos and info onto the internet is probably the best thing by far, better than any silly time capsule, and thats what we have done with the website. There is a thousand photos, 120 pages of info and stories and history now on the web, all getting shared and swapped and sent to everyone who is interested, and that is probably what will last the longest.



This is one terrific photo that was taken 75 years ago, just up the road from me, a sunshine header being pulled by eight horses....


IMG_0572.jpg




Well, amazingly, it turned out from researching for the centenary that we found that old sunshine header in the photo. I then offered to buy the header from the owner, but he gave it to me for nothing, I took it home, and I had it on display at the centenary. The owner inherited the header when he bought the farm. He was a city bloke and didn't even know it was there or even what it was.

A picture of the old sunshine, besides a half million dollar 2012 John Deere



IMG_1330.jpg




If anyone is interested, a short story of how we found that sunshine header, from the website, including pictures.

http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/93334365

I've now got it home and tucked away at the back of a shed. I don't really have any plans to restore it, but you never know in the future. It's fortunate that this little header had a shed over it for a lot of it's life, as there is a lot of wood on these old machines and any old headers that have been left out in the weather for 75 years are totally stuffed by now.


See ya's.
 
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I wouldn't trust a USB storage. Technology change is one thing but USBs can be easily lost, damaged or over-written.
I would keep it in the hard drive and backup the everything on a yearly basis on what ever technology available at the time.
 
I think better to save to both USB and DVD.

Who knows what technological advancement will be after 50 years.

For the meantime, just make sure you get the high quality brand of USB and DVD.

Although optical discs are prone to damage, make sure you get the high quality brand. Choose the one with gold reflective layer. Get information about proper handling and safekeeping to increase their lifespan.
 
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